What I Learned About Introversion and Extraversion

Psychology has been something of interest to me ever since I took a course in it in college, and if I could have at that point I might have changed my major but it was the final course so I wasn't able to. Well lately I have been looking into introversion and extraversion. What has prompted this interest has been, as modern psychologists might say, "the way I have been experiencing myself" recently. Commonly it seems that extraverts are thought to be people who are outgoing, sociable, always up for doing something, and incapable of reflection. And it seems that introverts are thought to be people are not outgoing, prefer to be with their thoughts, and can go for weeks without social interaction. Now I think there is truth to those definitions, but I think that it is an incomplete definition of introversion and extroversion.


 

Consider the following extraversion and introversion traits from Personality Type: An Owner's Manual by Lenore Thomson:

Extraverts:

• Define themselves in terms of externals - things that others will recognize and respond to.
• They adapt reality to their inner world.
• Are stimulated by the claims, pleasures, and obligations of the outer world - the people, things, and events that constitute external reality
• They gain energy from interacting with the outer world.
• Act before reflecting.
• Are influenced by and gauge their worth by the expectation and attention of others.
• Are straightforward, understandable, accessible.
• Are outgoing, sometimes highly expressive, but may not recognize their own needs.

Introverts:

• Consider their own viewpoint the arbiter of reality and define externals in terms of it.
• They adapt reality to their inner world.
• Are more aware of purely mental phenomena - the impressions, facts, ideas, and reactions that constitute the inner world. 
• They gain energy from investing their inner world.
• Reflect before acting.
• May defend themselves against the expectations and attention of others.
• Are reserved, complicated, private.
• Are self-aware, sometimes passionately intense, but may not realize their effect on others.

For me it was interesting that outgoingness is only one aspect of introversion or extraversion, and personally I think it's a minor one at that since I think it really depends on the situation as to how outgoing someone is. It certainly makes sense that an extravert would be more outgoing given that they gauge their worth by the attention of others; they need feedback and attention from others in order to be happy and so they seek it out. And it certainly makes sense that an introvert would be reserved since they consider their own viewpoint to be the arbiter of reality and they want protect that viewpoint and so they resist the external world.

In a perfect world extraverts would always be able to get the attention they need and introverts would always be able to get the alone time that they need to recharge, but we don't live in a perfect world. In reality exraverts and introverts both need to deal with issues of shyness (yes extraverts can be shy!) and the other hazards of life. Interestingly while researching this topic I came across extraverts who at one point thought they were introverts, and introverts who at one point thought they were extraverts.

So for me learning all this about introversion and extraversion actually has me questioning whether or not I am an introvert since my main criteria was outgoingness, which I have come to realize isn't that great of one. I'm really not ready to put myself in either category at this point as there is a lot for me to consider. These past 6 months I have been busier than ever, but also happier than ever. And while it was certainly tiring physically, emotionally it actually seems to have been a benefit to me.

In reality extraversion and introversion are more of a scale than categories and people fall on various points on the scale. Some are far to either side while others are closer to the middle. Sometimes you will be on the E side and sometimes on the I side, but you will generally spend more time on one side than the other. So it is possible that this is just a phase and I will go back to feeling like myself again, but I didn't really like how my old self felt, so I'm kind of hoping that I won't go back to feeling that way.

I'll cut this post off for now, but there will probably be more on this to follow in future posts.

Also...Halo 4 announced! I haven't played Halo 3 yet though, so I need to get on that I think...